The jury is still out on Jerry McNerney
’s political future but that of Peg Pinard is brighter this
week.
The jury is still out on Jerry McNerney’s political future but that of Peg Pinard is brighter this week.
McNerney, a Pleasanton resident, ran as a write-in for the Democratic nomination to the 11th Congressional District, needed 1,740 votes districtwide to qualify for the November ballot and came up a bit short. A recount is under way at McNerney’s own expense and, as of Monday, he was still one vote short with one more county to be checked.
The 11th district, which includes Morgan Hill, Lodi and Stockton, but not San Martin or Gilroy is currently represented by six-term Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Stockton.
The recount will cost McNerney $5,000 a day in Contra Costa and Alameda counties alone.
“Democracy is well worth the cost,” McNerney said.
The Secretary of State’s office credited McNerney with 1,667 votes and the candidate asked for a recount. Completed recounts in Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties raised the total to 1,731 not including another 60 Contra Costa votes where voters wrote in his name but failed to mark the box with an “x”. Court action would be required to get the state to recognize those votes, McNerney said.
Santa Clara County’s recount found eight more votes and the Alameda County recount will take place Wednesday. McNerney expected that many of the 317 write-in votes were for him but finds it curious that no absentee ballots from Morgan Hill contained his name.
McNerney said he looks forward to providing an alternative to Pombo.
“The experts say that we do have a small chance to beat Mr. Pombo,” McNerney said. “I’ll tell you that we have more than a small chance. We can beat Mr. Pombo because the people demand it.”
For Peg Pinard, running as a Democrat for the 15th state Senate district, the news is better. Green Party candidate Brook Madsen dropped out of the race and endorsed Pinard over her Republican rival, Santa Maria resident and assemblyman, Abel Maldonado.
Madsen praised Pinard in a letter to her campaign.
“Peg Pinard is the best candidate for the senate 15th district,” Madsen’s letter said. It said he was “impressed with Peg’s accomplishments, her environmental record and her history of standing up for the community.”
Pinard was elected to the San Luis Obispo City Council in 1987, elected mayor in 1992 and to the county Board of Supervisors in 1996. She was re-elected in 2000 with 70 percent of the vote, never having lost an election. An important part of Pinard’s past is highly relevant to Morgan Hill residents, battling with Olin Corp. over perchlorate in the underground water system.
While a supervisor, Pinard forced Unocal to finish cleaning up contamination it left in Avila Beach and Guadalupe, after the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board – also the lead agency in the local perchlorate/Olin clean up effort – had said there was no more they could do.
The 15th district has been represented by Bruce McPherson, R-Santa Cruz, but he is leaving because of term limits.
After December 2004, District 15 will include the counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo, the southeast portion of Santa Clara County (including Morgan Hill and San Martin but not Gilroy) and the northern portion of Santa Barbara County.
